Hoyo de Monterrey cigars

The name refers to a specific plot of land. José Gener y Batet, a Spaniard who arrived in Cuba as a teenager in 1831, spent two decades mastering tobacco cultivation in the Vuelta Abajo valley before acquiring a prized riverside plantation he called Hoyo de Monterrey — "the basin of Monterrey" — around 1860. The brand carrying that name was formally registered in 1865, and the tobacco from Gener's land gave it a distinct light, aromatic character that set it apart from Havana's fuller, heavier marcas.

Hoyo de Monterrey became enormously successful in the late nineteenth century, at one point operating the largest cigar factory in Cuba. The Gener family ran it until the 1930s. After the 1960 revolution and nationalization, the brand passed to what became Habanos S.A., which continues to produce it today with a consistent focus on light-to-medium strength and impeccable construction. The Epicure No. 2 — a robusto — is frequently cited as one of the best-constructed and most consistently smokeable Cuban robustos available.

The Non-Cuban Hoyo

After the US trade embargo, the US rights to the brand were acquired in the mid-1960s by Villazon & Company, who began producing a Honduran version. Villazon was later purchased by General Cigar in 1996, and the Honduran Hoyo de Monterrey — now under Scandinavian Tobacco Group — has developed a loyal US following of its own. The first Honduran batches were even blended with pre-embargo Cuban leaf stockpiles until those ran out in the 1970s. Today the two versions are entirely separate products with different country of origin, tobacco sources, and flavor profiles: the Cuban is subtle and refined; the Honduran leans earthier and fuller.